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The study of business ethics and its implications for different stakeholders have seen tremendous growth in the past few decades. There has also been a rise in the use and development of codes of ethics and announcements for ethical practices by many firms; however companies are still criticized for their unethical practices at different levels (Papers4you.com, 2006). Business ethics, according to the literature has been entrenched with the philosophical details of Ethics (Trevino & Nelson, 1999). Ethics has been defined as ‘the activity of examining the moral standards of a society, and asking how these standards apply to ones life and whether these standards are reasonable’ (Velasquez, 1998; p. 11).

The literature on business ethics is divided on its views about the motivation and reason for businesses to have an ethical dimension. Drawing upon Harrison (2001), there are two major schools of thoughts, firstly those who suggest that firms are profit generating institutions and therefore business ethics is yet another way to attract customers, secondly those who support corporate conscience and intrinsic motivation for the adoption of business ethics.

Business ethics has been considered very subjective in nature and according to Paul (2001) is considered a function of time and culture. It has been established that with the passage of time business ethics have evolved and also that the cultural values and norms drive business ethics within national and regional boundaries. One of the major studies regarding the national values has been conducted by Hofstede (1983). According to this research, which was only based on four indicators i.e. individualism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance and masculinity, there is a great deal of differences among values across different nations and consequently the business ethics. Globalization combined with standardization has made businesses financially efficient but at the same time poses questions regarding the standardized codes of business ethics across national boundaries.

Vinten (1991) has divided the business ethical issues at different levels i.e. international business, domestic business and professional ethics. At the international level ethical issues include free-masonry and socialism versus capitalism; at domestic level these include religious dimensions, social marketing and ethical education; and lastly at the individual level these include bribery, corruption and data protection (Papers4you.com, 2006).

There are many reasons and criticisms for the failure of adoption of ethics in the business world. Firstly, the concept is considered to be overly theoretical and it also negates the basic purpose of any business i.e. to create shareholder’s wealth. Secondly, it has lack of direction and unanimity across different cultures and academic groups. Lastly, it has many inherent unresolved dichotomies that according to Sternberg (1994) make it a case of rejected relativism.

Papers For You (2006) “S/B/92. What distinguishes ethical from unethical business activity and how significant are the principles of business ethics in modern business?”, Available from http://www.coursework4you.co.uk/sprtbus21.htm [17/06/2006]…

The last decade has been a decade of change in how companies manage their resources, obtain funding, and do business. This change has been fueled by: the Internet, innovation, competition, available human resources, market conditions and the capital required to build a business. Strategic alliances have become the vehicle of choice for supporting this change.

Larger corporations are adding alliance specialists to their staff as a key organizational function. An Internet business grows it’s revenue faster when joint ventures are formed. These two trends give credibility to the strategic alliance as a superior business strategy.

What is a Strategic Alliance?

An alliance is a relationship between two or more firms, or individuals, involving the sharing of complementary disciplines, technology, products, services, organizational structures, marketing and/or financial resources.

Types of Alliances

There are five fundamental types of alliances:

Funding

Joint Venture

Merger/Acquisition

Product/Services

Cooperative

Each type of alliance is usually subdivided into several special categories to fit specific business needs. Each strategic alliance uses varying types of agreements, from hand shakes and letters right up to tightly-defined legal documents. The needs of the parties involved, the depth of the involvement and the duration of the alliance all play a role in the type of agreement needed.

Every alliance has its own unique blend of economic, strategic and cultural circumstances. Each relationship is unique and should be executed according to its own set of guidelines and the core values of the alliance partner. In order to determine what type of alliance is needed to support your business’ goals you must first assess your business’ strengths and weaknesses, your competitive position, emerging opportunities and the resources needed to achieve your goals.

Alliance Ownership

The ownership in the alliance can take many forms depending on the type, contribution, tax and legal ramifications and the goals of the alliance partners.

Alliance Strategy

After you have defined the type of strategic business alliance needed a strategy and busines plan can be put into place. The strategy and business plan should define the following:

Alliance needs

Core competency

Alliance goals and objectives

Criteria for success

Partners’ roles and relationships

Characteristics of good and bad partners

Potential candidates

Operational details Deal structure with exit plan.

With your business plan and an alliance strategy plan in place a proactive search for an alliance partner can be implemented.

By establishing your own business alliance strategy then working with potential partners to jointly develop the alliance operating plan you lay the foundation for a mutually beneficial relationship.

Qualifying Potential Alliance Partners

Once potential alliance partners have been identified, the next step is to qualify them for:

For a business VoIP plan, the cost currently is somewhere less than $ 50. Businesses are allowed to make calls to anyone in the USA and Canada at anytime on their home, business and cell phone free of charge.

While this probably will not be of much concern when you're calling a friend, but remains a huge topic for businesses that consistently use telephone communication for discussing pertinent business information. Those with home offices can also be this as separate business number.

For home or small business users, cable Internet service will provide the largest savings, as most DSL service requires a land line telephone service account. In order to make use of VoIP business solution for placing internet telephone calls, you will need to subscribe to a service plan provided by one of the major VoIP service providers in business today.

Some companies charge for technical support, while many provide support during normal business hours. This is done remotely by the VoIP Hosted PBX provider, which also provides your company with greater flexibility to respond quickly to changing business or market conditions.

While the new VoIP service can save the average user a lot of money, a VoIP solution is by far an effective means for most small business users.

There is only one telecommunications solution that has the flexibility and capability to ensure business continuity and to keep business communications running in a major catastrophe – VoIP hosted PBX service. On the other hand, if you want business flexibility you should consider a small business package that costs more, but adds services like conferencing, a separate fax line, even an 800 number.

VoIP Phone Services- You also should consider how easy-or how difficult-it is to install the service, both as a business option and for home use. If you are a internet shopper consider that most of the time you will be able to run across a discount code or rebate if you buy through a third party link.

To get started, there are some major players and most reputable VoIP providers in the small business and residential VoIP industry right now: Vonage, Packet8, and SunRocket. The quality and reliability of service has improved so much within the past year or so that a VoIP solution is now sufficient and reliable enough for everyday residential and business use. Voip service plans offer voice over IP phone service, landline, long distance plans, cellular phones, cellular calling plans, broadband access to the Internet and a host of Internet and telecommunication services to residential, SOHO and small business customers nationwide.

The best way to choose a VoIP Business solution plan would be to search the better business bureau for complaints against the company, search Google reviews of complaints, opinions, or stop by a well rated VoIP forum and ask for advice.

Learn how a VoIP Business Solution can provide your company with huge savings when using a Business VoIP Solution. …

Handling or administration of any proposal request, appraisal, selection of process, discussion, etc. is through a system that is proposal management. With such services you can generate business letters, corporate proposals or invoices. The tool contains features with which creating many proposals instantly becomes something easy. The business documentation specialist tool could help you improve your business communication process.

Such tools usually contain professionally written data and themed templates such as executive summary or the history of a company. You could also be able to manage proposals with dynamic variables that will help you form various documents at one go. Enhancing the look and feel of proposals could have been done with the help of display theme covers feature that is generally offered by such tools. Converting the proposal content could also be done or even changing an image into a PDF file could be done.

These tools already contain professional template so in order to get your corporate proposal made you merely need to type a few details of the kind of proposal you want. The values ​​and details that you add are to be read by the tool and it would offer a wide variety of templates to choose from. Proposal management software makes it immensely easy to create your own proposals. The proposals could as well be edited so you can make changes here and there or add some more detailing to the final product you get in order to personalize it.

A good program will have the content to offer that is probably made by industry professional writers so that you can get an all impressive proposal which would help you and your business in the best way. The tool also features multiple formatting options through which you could publish your proposals in the format as per your requirement. Attractive display themes and designs for covers add to the creation of an attractive proposal, which also would give it an aesthetic look. Preparing proposals has become easy with programs of the modern day and they are not just average but highly impressive. Since they are easy to use, even a starter could easily create proposal. …

One of the most important documents that every business will need to construct and produce is their business plan.

These plans have a variety of uses:

They can assist a company when raising investment or funding; and

They can assist the management of a business with the direction of the business; and

They can assist management by providing a tool to measure and monitor business performance.

The fundamental areas which every business plan should consist of are:

· Objectives · Description of the current status · How to achieve the objectives (strategy and tactics) · Consideration of the risks · Financial budget

A business plan should contain details of the organization's objectives, and these objectives should follow the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, Timed) framework, to ensure that the company is capable of realistically achieving them. For some organizations their objectives may be very straightforward such as growing revenue and profitability by X%. For others it may contain a multitude of elements.

A description of the current status may be a volumous exercise. Typically this would include a description of the current business objectives, operation, key personnel, skills gap; customer base; key suppliers; historical financial performance. Of course every business is different so the focus on a specific function will differ from one plan to another.

In determining how to achieve the company objectives often the company will need to consider researching the market and understanding not only what is happening among their direct competition but further afield more generally within the economy.

The research and analysis conducted may follow certain well known models such as a PESTLE analysis (Political, Economical, Social, Technological, Legal and Ecological) and a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats). Other research and analysis may be less structured.

By understanding the market and the internal capabilities, the company is able to conceive realistic business objectives for the management and the team to achieve.

With any plan there are risks and these will need to be considered at length. Such considerations may simply be:

What happens if sales run at 75% of last year

What happens if there is a delay with our ecommerce website

What happens if a key member of staff leaves

Or, something more complex.

The risk analysis will allow management to put in place contingency measures that are essential for both safe-guarding the prospects of the business and for the successful delivery of the business objectives.

By setting a financial budget the management team are able to determine and control what financial resource that is available will be utilized to achieve their objectives. In some cases the business may need to seek additional working capital to be able to forge ahead with its plans.

The process should not just be something that you feel you bought to do before the beginning of the financial year. It should be something that is reviewed and updated throughout the year. Companies that plan ahead, document their plans, communicate it to the team and consistently benchmark …

A business plan is a formal statement of a set of goals, the reasons why they are believed attainable, and the plan for reaching those goals. These plans that identify and target internal goals, but provide only general guidance on how they will be met are called strategic plans. These plans may also target changes in perception and branding by the customer, client, tax-payer, or larger community. Learn how to create a winning plan. Writing such a business plan will force you to objectively develop and evaluate your tactical and strategic plans.Content is not fixed for any plan. Rather the content and format of the plan is determined by the goals and audience. For example, a business plan for a non-profit might discuss the fit between the outline and the organization's mission. Banks are quite concerned about defaults, so a plan for a bank loan will build a convincing case for the organization's ability to repay the loan.

Indeed, an increase in the number of small businesses has created much of the growth of new jobs in the United States economy. In existence are online small business workshop techniques for developing business ideas, starting new ventures and improving existing small businesses for entrepreneurs. A business plans handbook is a compilation of actual business plans developed by small businesses throughout North America. This handbook includes checklists and operating forms for small businesses. The FTC is an organization that works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceiving, and unfair practices in the marketplace and to provide information to businesses to help them comply with the law. Please do not forget that most small businesses will need an EIN even if they do not have employees. Most wholesalers will ask for this before you can do business with them.

Even if they do consider writing a business plan, they are often overwhelmed or confused by the planning process and never understand the value of this critical document. That is because most owners fail to plan seriously for their own success. Check the state laws where you plan to do business. One of the many questions about planning I receive is how long a typical plan is. The length of a typical plan can greatly vary from 10 pages to a 100-page document. Growing your business using information technology and the internet takes careful planning and many businesses are unsure about how to proceed.

– Creating your own business opportunities

– Planning your personal road map to success

– Pricing what you sell – Money: what you'll need and where to get it

– Making it legal

– Who owns the business.

Finally, your plan may help you develop as a manager by giving you practice in thinking about competitive conditions, promotional opportunities, sources of finance, etc.

Business plans may be internally or externally focused and are used in some primary and secondary programs to teach economic principals. Whether you are starting or growing a small business, a sound outline is your roadmap to …

Fostering a good business relationship with overseas partners is as essential as it is with your customers. After all, your overseas partner is your customer one way or the other. In this age of outsourcing, this is one major aspect that you can not afford to overlook. Here are some key points that can help you establish a healthy relationship with your overseas partner …

Since language is the most important factor, it is important to make arrangements to converse with your partner. Either learn their native language or have someone handy in your staff who knows their language. This is extremely important to conduct business professionally. Its always advised to learn as much as you can, may be a sentence or two in their language will always show your interest in your business partner.

Learn the culture of that country you are doing business with. Know a little about the festivals, national holidays, events and general beliefs as this may always help you become a part of the community where you are going to do business. Moreover, you will be well known within your business circle and people do appreciate this approach. Respect the people and the country, because when you have respect for them, they give that back to you.

Show your interest in learning their lives and facts. People in different countries, live their lives differently and same difference can be found in their working style. Observe their working styles close and utilize everything you learn while conducting business. You may be amazed at knowing something new which you had never thought and that could help you achieve your business goals much faster. Be a good listener and be ready to take new ideas from your overseas partner.

Most importantly, enjoy the partnership itself. Exchange news, tricks of the trade, tips to make your business better and enjoy your discussions with your partner. Its really a lot of fun when you get a chance to work in a multicultural environment. Try to speak in their native language as much as you can in your break or non-business hours, this will really help you in creating a friendly environment. …

Woodworking offers a wide variety of different business opportunities. Whether it is doing custom woodworking for a client or creating simple wooden crafts and furniture to sell online there are many different ways of putting your woodworking skills to good effect and earn either a comfortable part time income or create a six figure woodworking business.

Below are some of the woodworking business opportunities that exist today in the crafts and furniture end of the market. These are all high selling products that are easy to make. Some of these products such as the walking sticks are being driven by demographic trends which will only make these products more popular in the future.

When you are designing your own woodworking products it is important to stand out from the crowd. While these items might appear generic the key to commanding higher profit margins is to provide a unique selling proposition. For example if you use a particular type of timber you should explain its qualities in the sales literature. If you use a unique design make sure that you take a photograph of this and explain where the inspiration came from. However often the best unique selling proposition is you. Explain your own story and values and why you decided to become a woodworker.

One of the first woodworking business opportunities we will look at it is in garden furniture. Whether it is picnic tables, benches or ornamental bridges there is a lot of room in this market to get creative. The garden market is huge and growing. As baby boomers retire they will be spending even more time in the garden. Their thoughts will of course turn to how to decorate their garden. You can help to fill this need with your own range of unique wooden garden products.

Another market being driven by the greying of the population is walking sticks. This is an often overlooked opportunity but is in fact a huge market. It is also one that is growing as people become older. Walking sticks are relatively easy to construct and do not use up a lot of material. However a good walking stick can command easily over a hundred dollars giving it excellent profit margins.

Next look to cash in on the next great woodworking opportunity which is the green market. This market is huge and it will only get bigger in the future. Examples of products in this market include composters and untreated planter boxes. The important thing with this market is to play up the ecological element of your product. Stress the fact that no chemicals have been used and construct the products from recycled timber.

Over the coming years there will be even more woodworking business opportunities. The move towards artisan and hand crafted products means that the woodworking industry has gone through a renaissance as of late. You can participate in this boom by cashing in one of the many opportunities in the industry.…

Waste is the one thing the world will always have. As human beings, we collectively produce tons of waste every single day. From your everyday household waste, biohazardous waste produced by large industries, medical waste produced by the healthcare industry, infectious waste, retail waste, electronic waste, the list is endless. In terms of food waste alone, Wired Magazine reports that Americans throw away as much as half of the food they eat.

It’s not a surprise then that waste disposal is a billion-dollar industry because, let’s face it, with all the waste we produce, someone’s gotta take out the trash. And it’s not just as simple as taking it out but to properly dispose of it to ensure that the waste we produce isn’t harmful to our environment.

You don’t normally think about it, but every single piece of waste you produce should be disposed of in the right way. For example, if you happen to have extra cans of paint at home, you can’t simply throw them in the trash bin and that’s that – nope. Your extra cans of paint are classified as hazardous waste and to throw it away, you will need to schedule an appointment at your nearest hazardous waste disposal center, drop it off and they will then take care of properly disposing it.

If that’s the process you need to go through to dispose of hazardous household waste, imagine what it’s like for medical waste? In your local hospitals and health care centers alone, you can only imagine the amount of infectious medical waste they produce daily. To dispose this waste, the right infectious waste management methods must be practiced and it takes specialized medical waste management services to properly dispose of it in compliance with the standards and regulations stipulated by the state.

And that’s how it becomes a real money-maker – there are plenty of business opportunities for you in the medical waste industry.

And if you’re thinking that only hospitals produce this type of waste, you can think again. According to Chron.com, if you’re willing to comply with all the regulatory requirements and invest in all the necessary tools and machinery, you can provide waste disposal services to “medical, dental and veterinary practices, as well as outpatient surgical centers and hospitals”. In fact, you can contract many other establishments that produce medical waste like pharmaceutical companies, laboratories, private practices, even prisons; virtually any place that produce infectious medical waste can become your potential client.

If you’re interested in tapping the gold mine of business opportunities that is the medical waste industry or if you already have your own waste disposal cleaning and are looking into expanding, you might want to go ahead and read the six simple tips and resources that we’ve narrowed down to help you jump start your own medical waste disposal services company:

1. Don’t be afraid to start small.

Start small, work hard, dream big – come out strong. That’s every small business owner’s mantra. But …

Russia is in the news more and more these days as, under Vladimir Putin's (and now Dmitry Medvedev's) leadership, Russia is slowly recovering from the fall of the Soviet Union, and the basket case days of Yeltsin's leadership in the 1990s.

Although Russia may not be heading in the democratic direction that many in the West would like (in fact, it seems to be heading towards a semi-autocratic state, in which business interests are paramount) Russia is one of the world's fastest growing economies. Although not all sectors of its economy are firing on all cylinders, it's vast oil and mineral resources have brought a great deal of wealth into the country, giving the Russian leadership and people new vigor. This in turn has led to confidence on the international stage, and a realization that they no longer need to back down in international disputes – even when they turn violent. Witness the August 2008 war in Georgia, for example.

If you follow international affairs, or are involved in international business or investing, it is becoming more important than ever to make sure that you keep on top of the latest Russian news. And happily, as the web matures, it is becoming easier and easier to do that, even if you do not speak a word of Russian.

There are plenty of great English-language Russian news sites out there, in several different categories.

State backed Russsian news agencies like Interfax and RIA Novosti act as one of the best sources of real time news coming out of Russia. They publish many stories per day, on a similar model to Western news agencies like the Press Agency or Reuters. Being state backed they are open to accusations of bias, however, in my experience they've usually proved quite reliable.

Also based in Russia are newspapers like Pravda and the Moscow Times, both of which have English language internet news sites. Pravda tends toward the sensationalist, and pro-Russian, where the Moscow Times is aimed at expats. It tends to be more sober in its coverage and places more emphasis on business news, but has a clear pro-Western bias.

The big US and European newspapers also cover Russia, as you'd expect. The New York Times and the Guardian, for example, both have a page on their websites dedicated to news stories from Russia. Each, as you'd imagine has its own biases, and the coverage of Russia is often critical.

An emerging trend is the growth in specialist news sites covering Russia – often focusing specifically on the lucrative business market. Two good examples of this kind of site are Business News Europe (which also covers emerging markets in Eastern Europe) and Marchmont News, which covers regional business news. …